The current Royal family (Mountbatten-Windsor, I believe they call themselves now) are descended through Queen Victoria (and her husband Albert Saxe-Coburg Gotha) from the German house of Hanover. On the death of the last Stuart monarch, Queen Anne, in 1714, George, Elector of Hanover, became King of Great Britain (England and Scotland having been united in 1707) - he was the son of (I think) Sophie Electress of Hanover, who was some relation or other of Charles the 2nd, sister, or aunt or something. Anyway, he was the best they could come up with, since the surviving Stuarts, descendants of James II deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1688 (and replaced by William of Orange and Queen Mary), were Catholics and therefore barred by English law from holding the throne (The Act of Succession, I think it was called). There were 2 Catholic rebellions, in 1715 and 1745, that tried to restore the Stuart line, both of which were suppressed ruthlessly. I think there are still descendents of the Stuart Pretender out there, although I don't think they actively claim the throne any more.

Big round of applause for JGPH1A. I'll give you an A- as you forgot to mention about Princess Graham and Gordon, the GG sisters from the house of ochayedunmoo-soy. Those two were always amusing to learn about in school....

Then there's the belief surrounding Joseph of Arimathea, the Stone of Scone (still used underneath the Coronation Chair), and how Queen Elizabeth II is one in the long line of Davidic monarchs going back to about King Herremon, if I remember ancient history correctly.

Quoting AeroWesty (Reply 10):Then there's the belief surrounding Joseph of Arimathea, the Stone of Scone (still used underneath the Coronation Chair), and how Queen Elizabeth II is one in the long line of Davidic monarchs going back to about King Herremon, if I remember ancient history correctly.